Tired of your usual meatball recipe? Try these Mongolian meatballs in a sweet, savory sauce that makes a quick and super-satisfying meal!
A New Kind of Meatball
I think everyone loves meatballs. Most people eat them Italian-style or get the Swedish ones from IKEA. They’re each delicious in their own way. But if your family is getting tired of meatballs on the menu every week, it’s time to jazz things up with these Mongolian meatballs.
Combine Two Classics for an Easy Pleaser
If you like ordering Mongolian beef at your favorite Chinese restaurant, this dish is a fun twist – both on the Chinese dish and on traditional meatballs. This dish uses that same sweet yet savory sauce and marries it with the tender and meaty bite of a Western-style meatball.
For this reason, it’s a pretty low-risk dish – using the two time-tested techniques, you’re sure to please any audience by making it – just take care to brown the meatballs properly.
Cooking tips
Browning is the Key
It’s important to brown the meatballs properly here for a couple of reasons:
- It makes a huge difference in flavor development. Browned meat tastes better than steamed meat. It’s just a fact. Aim for an even, brown color on most sides.
- It helps the meatballs stay together. These meatballs do have egg and breadcrumbs, which help a lot to bind the meat together, but they’re more likely to fall apart if you don’t brown them.
The Best Meats for Mongolian Meatballs
With my Mongolian meatballs recipe, I’ve used ground beef but you can also use ground chicken, ground pork, or ground turkey. Whatever you use, make sure you use a slightly fattier blend instead of super lean meat so your meatballs will be juicier. If you’ve ever experienced dry meatballs before, the secret is in the fat content of the meat you use.
A Time-Saving Shortcut
And it’s so easy to put together from scratch, though if you’re in a rush, you can use store-bought meatballs to get dinner on the table even faster.
How to Pair Mongolian Meatballs
On Good Ol’ Steamed Rice
Just like Mongolian beef, Mongolian meatballs are perfect to serve on top of steamed rice. That sauce! It is so amazing on rice! It’s an obvious pairing, but also one of the best.
Pair Them with Veggies
I also like to serve it with some roasted or blanched vegetables. Things like asparagus, broccoli, or cauliflower go quite well with this dish. You can cook them in the oven while the meatballs are in progress on the stove. Don’t forget to get lots of sauce on the veggies!
The MMS: Mongolian Meatball Sub
It may be a bit unconventional, but I love a good meatball sub and these Mongolians are great in a sandwich. Use a hoagie or hot dog roll and try it with my Chinese Coleslaw, Pickled Shallots, or any other (pickled) veggie you like, and get prepared for a next-level meatball sub!
A Great Option for Meal Prep
Do you meal prep? If so, Mongolian meatballs could be your next favorite meal prep item. Because it’s so easy and packs so well, you’ll always have something delicious when you’ve got Mongolian meatballs.
Even on a busy night, you can get this one on the table in less than 30 minutes. Yes, even if you make the meatballs yourself. But if you’re crunched for time, use the store-bought ones. Once it’s done, you’ll have plenty of leftovers to pack up and enjoy later too!
More Takeout-style inspiration
- Seafood Chow Mein (海鲜炒面)
- General Tso’s Chicken (crispy, no deep frying)
- Authentic Hot & Sour Soup (酸辣汤)
- Black Pepper Steak (黑椒牛柳)
- Home Style Tofu (家常豆腐)
Mongolian Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb (454 g) ground beef
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 cloves garlic , grated
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1/2 cup (54 g) breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 4 green onions , chopped
Sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- 4 cloves garlic , grated
- 2 teaspoons ginger , grated
Slurry
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons water
Cooking
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
- 1 green onion , sliced, for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium-size bowl combine ground beef, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, chili flakes, brown sugar, garlic and ginger. Beat until the meat starts to fill sticky and bouncy. Add the breadcrumbs, egg, and green onions. Mix incorporated fully.
- Form the mixture into 24 heaping tablespoon sized meatballs using your hands. For easy forming, grease your palm with a bit of oil to prevent the meat from sticking too much.
- Add the sauce ingredients to a small bowl. Mix to dissolve the sugar completely.
- Combine the slurry ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with 1 teaspoon of oil until hot. Add the meatballs with some space in between. Cook without touching until the bottom turns brown. Flip the meatballs 2 to 3 times, until most of the sides turn golden brown.
- Turn to medium heat. Move the browned meatballs to one side of the pan. Use a spoon or a few layers of kitchen paper towel attached to a pair of tongs to remove some of the excess fat that collects in the pan.
- Pour the sauce into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes while stirring the meatballs to coat them in the sauce evenly.
- Turn to medium low heat. Stir the slurry again to dissolve the cornstarch completely and swirl into the pan. Stir immediately and let cook until the sauce thickens. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Garnish with sliced green onions.
- Serve hot over steamed rice as a main dish.
Video
Nutrition
Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team and worked closely with Maggie to develop and test this recipe.
Delicious! Will definitely make again. On step #5 though, you should heat your pan to medium high (not medium) to brown the meatballs. Possibly a typo!
This recipe sounds so delicious. I am going to make the meatballs a bit smaller to use for cocktail party, like those grape jelly and chili sauce ones. I believe they would be a wonderful change. I will get back to you when I do so.
Yummy! Something I’ve learned from watching professional chefs tho, is to never beat your ground meat. That’s how you end up with tough meatballs. Handle it as little as possible to keep the meatballs tender. Also, step #5 says heat your pan to medium. It should say medium high. Hopefully the author will update that.
This recipe sounds fantastic! Can it be finished (after browning the meatballs) in a crockpot?
If so, how could I go about doing that? Thank you!!
I’ve never tried cooking these meatballs in a crockpot but I think you definitely can. Once you’ve browned the meatballs, add the sauce, then cook on high for 2 hours, or low for 4 hours. Once it’s cooked, add the cornstarch slurry. It should takes a few minutes to thicken the sauce.
yummy! I added a little red pepper flakes for heat. We ate them with mashed potatoes and green beans
Obsessed with this meal.
I love this recipe so much! The first time I made it as stated, but this time I forgot to get the green onions and the fresh ginger so I substituted white onions and ginger powder and it still came out Amazingly tasty. we eat a lot of rice, so I served it with mashed potatoes and a side of green beans. Yummy! I’ll make again and again.
The recipe is sooo fast, easy and delicious. I adore your blog! If you’ve ever consider adding the automatic weight converter for metric system, we, fans from Europe, would be very thankful! Love from Poland <3 🙂
Very good!
Great recipes!! Have made a number of them and all were very good. Occasionally added more red pepper since I usually like it spicy. Will try these meatballs soon.
Very good recipe. Just the right amount of heat.
I doubled the recipe and used half beef/half turkey. Followed directions and it worked great. My husband is having seconds even after an already generous portion.
This recipe was a big hit with my family, including the toddler!
This was so simple to make and full of flavor! My 3 yr old even liked it! I will for sure be making this again.
These were quite excellent, I mixed beef and pork and doubled the recipe. I roasted broccoli in the oven while the meatballs baked (too many to do the skillet version) and then when it was all done I stir fried some sweet onion and then added the meatballs we wanted for the meal into the pan and browned the bottoms, cooked the sauce and added the broccoli in with the whole deal and I’ll tell ya, it was a winner. 10/10 will nosh again.
Delicious recipe thanks! I strayed slightly by cooking the meatballs in the oven and just poured the sauce over them at the end. The meatballs were super juicy and flavourful and the sauce clung to them beautifully. It all came together super quick, too, served on top of some steamed rice with sautéed bok choy on the side.
How many meatballs in a serving?
These are a favorite. I have made with ground pork, ground turkey and with ground beef. All great. I make meatballs and air fry them at 400 for 15 minutes and while they are cooking I make the sauce on stove top. Once meatballs are all crispy and cooked I toss in sauce and serve with fried cabbage. Always a treat!
Just finished dinner; my husband and I both had seconds, and we only have one leftover portion in the fridge. I added two zucchini in half moon slices when my meatballs were half way done. They were browning a bit too quickly so I pushed them on one side and added the veggies to the other. Cooked for a couple of minutes and then added the sauce and simmered for a few minutes to make sure the meatballs were cooked through. Next time I make them, I will make the sauce a little less sweet, just a matter of preference.